Each Full Moon is a balance point, with the Sun and the Moon exactly opposed by sign and degree. A Full Moon is like a see-saw: when it levels, each partner is looking directly at the other as equals.
The Full Moon in Libra is a kind of ultimate balance point because Aries and Libra, perhaps more than any of the polarities, represent a balance between what’s “me” and what’s “you,” together making “us.”
This first Full Moon of the spring season, on April 16 at 11:54 Pacific, is called the Pink Full Moon—but not because the Moon will look pink. The name comes from a type of mossy pink wildflower common in northeast north America. Pink feels soft, in contrast to the stark red of the Aries Sun.
While the Sun is in Aries at the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s an emphasis on starting new things and, metaphorically, on surviving birth. Aries is like the primal scream of a newborn when it takes its first independent breath. There’s no thought. It is a compelling instinct.
From there, the onrush of learning for a newborn is about how to distinguish between what’s “me” (thumb, face, toes, mouth) and everything else (Mama, food, sounds, sights, smells). The journey of the Sun (monthly) and the Moon (changing signs every couple of days) is like a refinement in this learning, from gathering information and speaking, to developing an independent emotional self. At Libra, the half-way point through the zodiac, there is equipoise. The glyph for Libra looks like an old-fashioned scale, and also like the setting sun, as in a time to relax.
The Libran imperative is to harmonize with others. This can take form as caring more about others’ needs than one’s own, even to the extremes of becoming a doormat, and then that can lead to becoming passive-aggressive. The polarity of Aries and Libra, which is what we have at this Full Moon, teaches that we can arrive at true harmony with others only once we first take care of ourselves. It can be the work of a lifetime to find equanimity in dealing with oneself and everyone else.
On April 16, the Moon in airy Libra will be separating from a harmonious trine with Saturn, which will be in Aquarius until March 2023. Saturn is about effort, maturity and challenges. Aquarius, the fixed or concentrated air sign, lends an analytical, even aloof quality to Saturn. Trine to the Moon and also sextile to the Sun on April 16, Saturn in Aquarius may breathe some air into the usual kinds of tensions one may feel at the time of a Full Moon. Saturn is about limits and endings. Full Moons are also times of culmination. Something in the emotional realms may need to finally be put to rest.
At this Full Moon, we will still be in thrall to this year’s major transit, the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces, which was exact on April 12. If you’ve been directing your energy toward the symbolism of that conjunction, you might have taken the opportunity to luxuriate in whatever it is that makes you feel most inspired and uplifted. The Jupiter-Neptune conjunction is still very much in play at this Full Moon, calling us to just abide in a sense of mystical union with the Divine.
Also at this Full Moon, Mercury, the planetary force of perceptions and communications, is conjoined by two degrees with Uranus, the planet symbolizing liberation and sudden, unexpected events. Mercury has to do with how we think and express, and what we think about. With Mercury conjunct Uranus, both in Taurus, the earth sign ruled by Venus (also known as Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love) you might blurt out something hasty to someone you care about. So be careful. Or you might enjoy a sudden insight in the realm of relationships, an epiphany about how to love better.
This Full Moon is a forerunner for the beginning of an eclipse season: there will be a partial solar eclipse two weeks later at the New Moon in Taurus on April 30.
But before that, this Full Moon coincides with two of the great annual time markers of the Abrahamic religions. The Libra Full Moon is also called the Paschal Full Moon, Paschal being a version of the Aramaic word for Passover, Pesach in Hebrew. At sundown on Good Friday, April 15, we honor the first night of Passover, which tells the story of a people who, with God’s material help and grace, broke free from oppressors. We think now of all people seeking liberation from war and oppression, from Ukraine, to Yemen and Palestine, to the Rio Grande.
One need not subscribe to any religion to note that Easter has pagan origins, its annual date set as the Sunday following the first Full Moon of spring. Easter, named for the pagan goddess of dawn and renewal, Eostre, is, like the Full Moon, a point of culmination. We remember the sacrifice of an enlightened being, born to offer a way of salvation not for himself but for all others, resurrected into eternal life as a beacon for all time.
Blessings for the Libra Full Moon at this time of Passover and Easter!
Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
Leave a Reply